Seething Airfield: worth a visit

[FNG]

Yesterday I popped into Seething Airfield in Norfolk after a jolly trip from North Weald, dodging thunderstorms along the way. I have rhapsodised here before about the splendours of GA flying in East Anglia, and Seething is another reason for flying there (alas, Swanton Morley and Little Snoring appear to have closed, at least to visitors). Seething is owned by a private flying group. I’ve been to other places operated by groups, but normally they are, understandably, a bit tatty. The Seething Group clearly have some cash and are prepared to spend it. Smooth runway (24/06), very tidy apron and taxiways, modern clubhouse. IO540, I bet you’d like this place. Several shiny kitted-up aeroplanes on their own carousels in a pristine hangar. It reminded me a little of the well maintained but deserted Fowlmere, although Seething has better buildings. It would be unfair of me to say that there was no atmosphere, as it was a wet weekday afternoon, with one chap selling fuel and another enjoying a solitary beer in the unstaffed bar, although it would have been nice to have been invited to make myself a coffee. Presumably the place generates a bit of a buzz at the weekend.

Thjere's apparently a memorial to the US Airmen who served at Seething in the old (and seemingly well preserved) Watch Office/Control Tower on the far side of the field.

I also visited Beccles, five minutes flying to the south east of Seething, and another ex WW2 bomber station, but there was nobody there. I hope that the landing fee I stuffed into the door jamb didn't blow away.

Another one for the log books: Enstone, Oxfordshire. One airfield, two clubs. One sells landings, the other sells fuel. Completely different set up and atmosphere at each. I won’t say which of the two is more fun.

[formationfoto]

FNG

Sorry you didn't have a welcoming party at Seething but as it is a self help sort of place it tends to be quite empty during weekdays with only the engineering operation on the field present (and supporting the bar!). The best weekday is wednesday which tends to be quite busy.

Saturdays is training day and it is very lively.

Sunday is a club day and the number of people there is related to the weather although I and one or two other sad gits are there most Sundays.

Maybe you saw some of the air to air pics we do on the wall.

Please visit again but if you want food and drink make it Wed / Sat / Sun.

[bar shaker]

I've been told to visit Seething and its on my "to do" list.

I've heard nothing but good reports.

[Aussie Andy]

I went to Seething, and formationfoto took these lovely pictures of me: http://members.lycos.co.uk/andyhardyuk/G-ODAK/

I agree it is a great little place to visit! :ok:

Andy

[Oscar Duece]

Err Andy Is that second pic for real. Is that a wing or a stab tip about to give your passenger a head ache on the left. :ooh:

[FNG]

formationfoto, I wasn't complaining, as it was a very quiet day (the friendly fuel bloke told me that mine was the first aircraft to use the field that day) . You might consider putting up a sign saying "help yourself to coffee," with an honesty box inviting people to pop in a quid or so. I shall visit again at a weekend.

[stiknruda]

FNG - let me know when you are going to Seething as I'm just half a dozen nm west.

Stik

[Aussie Andy]

OD:Err Andy Is that second pic for realAll real! But I can't take credit for the skills: it was thanks to the man in the r.h.s.

Andy :ok:

[Whirlybird]

Which other airfields in East Anglia are good to visit? We're thinking of doing some airfield hoppng in that area this Friday and Saturday. Any recommendations for an overnight stay?

[bar shaker]

Whirly

Cromer Northrepps is also a must visit. You won't meet a more helpful and enthusiastic person than Chris Gurney. Chris sorted out excellent B&B for 16 of our club over Easter and wouldn't take payment for over night parking. A top bloke and a lovely field.

BS

[FNG]

Whirlybird, I am pretty sure that Swanton Morley and Little Snoring are now closed to visitors, which is a shame as both are pleasant and in good locations. Weybourne is fun (departure over the low cliffs). Langham is expensive, but has interesting aircraft (lots of Moths being refurbished there). Shipdham is friendly but pretty basic. I have not yet tried Felthorpe and Great Massingham. Old Buck useful for fuel and a sandwich. I will PM you with a suggestion for a farmstrip overnighter in Nelson country.

Stik, I'll PM you also.

[TheKentishFledgling]

Old Buck has just had a new restaurant opened, which is apparently on a par with AV8 at Kemble. May be worth a trip.

tKF

[futurshox]

Here's another vote for Seething - I visited a couple of weeks ago for the first time and was impressed with the place. (Hello formationfofo, I'm guessing I met you that day too!)

Northrepps is a fine airfield also; very friendly and Chris is an excellent host.

[formationfoto]

Futur
Indeed we did! - your Chipmunk driver.

Whirly

East Anglia getting a bit short of airfields with some closures as mentioned but I would certainly have Old Buck on my list though I think if you are planning to hover there you can't. I would have Cromer on the list as Chris is heli friendly and from memory Fenland are also heli friendly.

If you you want you can land in my back garden (I have put an R22 and a B2B in there and good approach from the South) - am just north of Hardwick which is around 4 miles to the South West of Seething. Will be there Friday early evening and Saturday (01508 534900 / 07802 611647is the No if you want to drop in for a coffee and I can give you GPS co-ords)

If you are thinking of doing f/w then the options are greater and i would reinstate Old Buckenham. Beccles is also a possibility.

If you are not looking for lots of activity then Felthorpe and Priory Farm.

Brief write up on some of these in one of the mags a few months ago (I wrote the article).

For overnight B+B is your best option and I know there are one or two around Seething, Chris can also suggest some near Cromer.

AA

Just checked out the photo link and reminded myself of the sortie. Was it really Oct 02?. Isn\'t it about time you came over again to do some more pics?.

Since your visit we did some good stuff of the Britannia (TUI) group fleet in formation.

And to give credit where credit is due the photographer wasn\'t me but a couple of other guys who I hang around with who enjoy doing this stuff. They don\'t trust me to take good photos I just sit in the subject aircraft and can be seen peering out of G-ODAK.

[Fly Stimulator]

I second bar shaker's endorsement of Cromer and of Chris Gurney. There's a web site for the field here (http://www.chris.gurney.co.uk/) - worth a look for the photo of the international terminal alone.

It's perhaps not quite at the centre of the known world, but it's a great little spot with a friendly welcome, plus you have some very nice flying over the north Norfolk coast and the Broads.

Another good spot close by is Weybourne, where you can park the aircraft within yards of the beach.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Which other airfields in East Anglia are good to visit? We're thinking of doing some airfield hoppng in that area this Friday and Saturday. Any recommendations for an overnight stay? Whirly, you can stay with us if you choose Cambridge (or Fowlmere or Bourn or Duxford or the helipad at the Science Park).

[bar shaker]

I found the details of the B&B we stayed at.

Shrublands Farm (http://www.broadland.com/shrublands.html)

For anyone going up that way, its thoroughly recommended and a only a few minutes walk from the airfield.

[Blind lemon]

This is my East Anglia impressions

Great Massingham - Nothing there
Old Buckenhams - Good airfield and cafe
Beccles - Very Quite
Little Snoring - It was open last summer but very quiet
Norwich - Very good and well run airport. Not expensive either.
Seething - Agree with all the good comments
Swanton Morley - Was a nice little airfield, shame if its not open
Fenland -Top little airfield with good amenities.

Still got to get to Shipdham, Langham and
North Denes (international).

[formationfoto]

Blind Lemon
I think you will find Denes is only open to rotary traffic and although I am not absolutely sure on this second point I think only to company traffic.

I know that a Jodel pops in and out of there sometimes but that is part owned by one of their training captains (I also have a part share in it).

My Brantly B2B part (not sure which bit I own) is also in and out of there but again part owned by the same company pilot.

Langham is certainly worth a visit just for the fun of it and Ludham for the hangar at the end of the runway causing you to focus on not getting your klanding distances wrong.

Haven't been to Shipdham for a while but a shadow of its former self.

Whirly

Please tell - where did you end up going after this request - and what were your views on the fields visited?

[bar shaker]

North Denes...

Unless its big and red with LOTS of seats, you may not be welcome.

However, I could probably land a flexwing microlight on their apron, just :)

[Whirlybird]

formationfoto,

Haven't gone yet; leaving tomorrow morning. Tentative plan is to leave Sleap and pick up my co-pilot at Wellesbourne, fly to Fenland for lunch, then either Old Buckingham or Seething - or possibly both - then to Earl's Colne which has accommodation on site. The following day a really short flight to a BWPA fly-in at Duxford, then back to Wellesbourne and Sleap. Would love to go to Cromer and the coast, but maybe another trip. Gertrude, thanks for the offer of accommodation, but we know the Cambridge area, and want to go to all new airfields for both of us.

I'll let you all know where we go and what we think...on Sunday. Oh, and we're taking KF, the C150, now with her sheared-off instrument panel mounts replaced...for anyone who read my thread on the non-working ball, DI, and AI.

[Blind lemon]

Formationfoto

Thanks for the North Denes info. I shant be going to somewhere where I wont be welcome.

[formationfoto]

Blind Lemon
My pleasure but as you will have seen plenty of other interesting places within twenty miles so not a great loss. Maybe see you at Seething one Sunday.

[Whirlybird]

...though it was hardly East Anglia, since we didn't manage to land at any airfields in either Norfolk or Suffolk. :{ Still, landing at an airfield called Fenland has gotta be considered as East Anglia. :ok: Anyway, to the beginning....

Friday

I get to Sleap around 9 am. Weather is lovely, forecast is great, and KF's instrument panel has been fixed (see thread on non-working balance ball, DI, and AI if you really want!). Everything is hunky dory till I call Sleap for a radio check....
"Station calling Sleap, readability 2" :eek:

We have two radios, and Box 1 has always given problems, but this is Box 2! I try again, same thing. I switch to Box 1, and it works perfectly! I get out my handheld radio and put it accessibly on the spare seat, re-fuel, and fly to Wellesbourne to pick up Tricia. I talk to Shawbury and London Info with no problems, and when I ask after landing, Wellsbourne says they heard me fine.

Tricia has been held up, as she said she would be, and doesn't get to Wellesbourne till 12 o'clock. We decide to go to Fenland, then Old Buckingham, then Earl's Colne, where we're booked to stay the night at the Golf and Country Club right by the airfield. We leave, then have to return due to a minor problem, leave again, and eventually Tricia flies us to Fenland. Great fun to find, grass runways in the middle of grass fields, in an area where people keep mowing grass strips in their fields. Tricia won't let me put on the GPS, but we find it anyhow, and land. Lovely little airfield...but not sure about the people. No-one really seemed very friendly. Maybe they were just having a bad day. Anyway, we have a late lunch, then realise we're never going to make Old Buck and land at Earls Colne by 6pm. I phone them to ask if we can come in late, and they say legally we can't. So we abandon plans for Old Buck and fly straight to Earl's Colne.

Earl's Colne is lovely. Really friendly, free coffee, a great welcome, and a lift to the Country Club place...only a ten minute walk anyway. They told us to say we were flying club members and we'd get a reduction. We did, and the price reduced to £25 each...for a "suite" (actually a very large room) with a great view, and they had a swimming pool and jacuzzi and sauna - which we were early enough to make full use of. Bliss after a day's flying. We'll be back!

Saturday

I really didn't want to go to the BWPA fly-in at Duxford, but for various reasons we more or less had to. I wanted to fly to Seething, or Old Buck, or Beccles, or Cromer! But it wasn't to be, this time. Anyway, it was an uneventful half-hour flight to Duxford, where we met various people, including our own Penguina. We looked round the museum etc, then took off after lunch for Wellesbourne. The predicted high pressure haze hadn't happened; the wx was still lovely. I dropped Tricia off, had a snack, and set off on the final leg to Sleap. There should have been no problems. The radio had worked fine for the whole trip, so I didn't even think about getting my handheld out of my bag in the back. I talked to Birmingham, then at Shrewsbury tried to call up Sleap.
"Station calling Sleap, unreadable" :eek:

Oh no. Not now! And they're crowded with people returning after a nice day (the radio is receiving fine); I really don't want to join non-radio. I switch to the previously non-working Box 2...and it works. :ok: I land safely, put KF to bed....and start planning for the next trip to East Anglia. It may not have the scenery we have over here in Wales, but it's a friendly place, and we heard even more reports of how nice all the airfields were.

So, sorry not to have taken any of the advice I asked for...but that's aviation for you. But we'll go back, that's for certain.

Hopefully with a reliable radio!

[FNG]

Sounds like a jolly trip. Finding Fenland arfield visually is certainly a challenge, but it's a pleasant place when you get there.

[formationfoto]

Fenland is best spotted from looking for the car breakers yard I recall but not been there for a few years so must revisit.

[FNG]

That's not a car breaker's yard, that's Wisbech (car breaker's yards tend to be prettier).

[Whirlybird]

We found it by estimating our distance from Wisbech and Spalding, then wondering why we couldn't see it....we were directly overhead.

[formationfoto]

FNG
How unkind to the people of Wisbech!. But I understand your point. Mind you there are plenty of other places I would prefer to use as a visual aid to navigation than as a destination.